The Tillering of the Ready Bow

Most of us reading this have “jumped,” we’ve “sung,” we’ve “skipped,” and we’ve even “yodeled,” but most of us have never tillered. To tiller is to slowly and purposely bend wood into a desired shape.

Wood, by nature, isn’t desiring to be bent. It resists this operation. And as a result, tillering takes time and patience. It’s a little bit of movement every day. And if you rush the process, the wood will snap. And for a Longbow, that simply won’t do.

Red oak, hard maple, hickory, poplar, and mahogany all are wonderful woods. But none of them are perfectly suited to becoming a Longbow in the hand of a Heavenly Archer. They all balk at tillering. But there is a very special wood that God designed specifically for such a tillering process. And that is yew.

First the Bow-maker would find a satisfactory stave of yew. He would then taper it from its middle to its ends in a slight oval shape. Then the tillering would begin. One inch at a time, the bow would be bent. The Bow-maker would “teach” the bow its proper and most-useful shape, so that when it was fully drawn it would look like the segment of a circle. Or, as it was often said in the olden days, until it “come compass.”

It’s important to note that the reason we have hope for the return of the bowman’s bulging left bicep is due to the fact that the Perfect Bowman has already appeared. This Perfect Bowman, wasn’t just the most amazing Archer who hit the mark from ten thousand yards out, in and through a gusting wind, but He is also the great Bow-maker. His Name . . . Jesus. And though Jesus is God, the Great Bow-maker, He humbled Himself to become a common Bowman, a Longbow in the hand of His Father, and even the very arrow that pierced the heart of the Devil’s power and authority.

Never forget this . . .

God has chosen “yew” (you). And He is desirous, able, and ready to bend “yew” into a state ready to push back the powers of darkness in this generation.